


Pile Up The Pales

by GuardianKarenTerrier



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Because I can, F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Meteor Shenanigans, Meteorstuck, Multi, Second Person, Time Shenanigans, and it amuses me, and there is not enough dave/terezi/karkat out there i demand more, cabin fever, cabin fever leading to shenanigans, except it totally doesn't, i am also sorry for the terrible pun title, i am taking liberties with time powers, no okay i'm really not but i feel i should be, regular fuckery, this refused to get out of second person i am sorry, timefuckery, trollmance, trollmance shenanigans, what happens on the meteor stays on the meteor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-26
Updated: 2014-01-31
Packaged: 2018-01-02 16:32:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1059066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GuardianKarenTerrier/pseuds/GuardianKarenTerrier
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Three years is a long time and you are slowly becoming convinced the meteor is shrinking by the day. Luckily, Karkat and Terezi are more than happy to investigate this phenomenon with you, regardless of whether it's actually occurring. </p>
<p>And if the three of you should happen to fall into some compromising piles and positions along the way, hey. Shit happens. </p>
<p>(Also you're pretty sure there is a murderclown out for your head, you should probably look into that).</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. we've lost what sense we had

 

The meteor is huge.

 

By week two it isn't anywhere near huge _enough._

 

Rose hopped all aboard the pile train early on, shoving together every book she could lay hands on into one massive pile in the library-formerly-known-as-computer-lab for her and Kanaya to share. You guess you can see how that makes sense. Rose probably isn't going to leave the compubrary unless or until one of you pries her out or someone forgets to bring food. At the rate they're going Rose will know Alternian by next Tuesday.

 

You, however, liked having a bed.

 

Attempts to explain this to Karkat and Terezi result in miserable failure and an insufferably smug smirk on Rose's part, so you gank a bunch of her and Kanaya's fabric and some of the piles of boondollars all over to start stuffing a mattress. It's not like there's anything else to use the damn money for anymore. A liberated bookcase/bedframe later you have a bed.

 

No bedroom, but a bed.

 

You captchalogue it and head for the transportalizer.

 

“Hey, where the fuck do you think you're going?”

 

Awesome, Karkat got bored again.

 

“To build a pile out of pails and film amateur porn, I mean, how else are we supposed to amuse ourselves here? Sure we have interspecies lesbians and necrophilia live but one of them is... well.. Rose so hell to the no, we need better wank material.”

 

“I'm in,” Terezi says from behind you, holy shit when the fuck did she get there.

 

“Shit yeah you're in Tz that was assumed from the start, now help me find a bedroom we can doll up like we're the motherfucking princes of Arabia.”

 

“Oh, now I get it, you just want your own fucking respiteblock,” Karkat grumps from behind you both now. Why the fuck are they both following you. At least Rose and her vampiress don't look about to move, and the clown has fucked off for parts unknown, but just. No. Why. You just want to claim a fucking room. For yourself, not for yourself plus everyone's favorite fairy god trolls.

 

Well. Right now, anyway.

 

Shit, didn't the girls say it was gonna be three years? You're all gonna go through puberty on this multiversal road trip, that's just awesome. Karkat's gonna be scandalized daily, you just know it.

 

And if he isn't then you're missing a golden opportunity.

 

All three of you rematerialize surrounded by Zodiac signs. Shrugging, you head straight for Cancer just to get a head start on pissing Karkat off.

 

“Why my section, fucknugget, just tell me why. There are literally a dozen goddamn options here, and you are going straight for the one guaranteed to piss me off, why.”

 

“Answerin' your own questions,” you say absently, before veering off. Jegus _fuck_ this place has a ton of stairs. This is the most convoluted architecture ever and you've just spent one/several days playing a game which heavily involved some damned convoluted architecture. “Okay actually let's go to Terezi's play structure I bet there's less chance of speaking primarily in shitty stair memes from there.”

 

There is not.

 

“Terezi, why,” you ask finally, staring across a chasm at her, where she's digging scalemates and dice out of a chest on a neighboring... parapet? Yeah, okay. “Why do you have a castle. Why do you have a castle _in a meteor._ Where the fuck do any of these chasms even _go_.”

 

“No one fucking knows, but if I hear a single honk from them I'm absconding so fucking fast,” Karkat grumps. For some reason he's sharing your parapet instead of finding his own like Terezi. Possessive bastard. Rawr.

 

_Down,_ hormones.

 

Seriously, who decided it was fucking necessary for the damn game to grab you all up right before puberty? That was such a shitty idea and now you get to repeat that thought over the course of the next three goddamn years.

 

“Okay fuck it I am claiming this one. Clear off, shouty, go claim your own parapet.”

 

“You actually fucking know what these are called, wow.”

 

“Half our lands _had_ castles dude just because we didn't bring ours with at the endgame doesn't mean we didn't know shit about them.” You poke at the door. It squeals halfway up and comes to a shuddering, overworked halt.

 

Shrugging, you corrode the hinges and kick the door down. “I am not getting jammed in here. Tz, do you need me to timefuck any of the other doors?”

 

Terezi shrugs and takes her cane to her own door, beating it until it dents outward, now stuck open. “Nope! Maybe Karkat's door.”

 

Yep, sure enough, Karkat has only absconded as far as the parapet on your other side.

 

“Don't you have your own whole section?” you wonder out loud, even as you timefuck his door anyway because why the hell not. “Didn't we just wander through a section with your mark on it and everything? Did I not just listen to you bitch about it?”

 

“Fuck you, like I'm letting you two degenerates that far out of my sight,” Karkat sniffs and yeah, okay, actually you can see both why he might want the two of you in his line of sight and why he wouldn't want to give a straight answer about it.

 

You kind of suspect he'd be more comfortable being able to see Rose and Kanaya too but that way lies blindness and madness both so no. 'Rezi and Rose have those things covered between them already, okay, no one needs to be adding on. Probably a good thing no one is super attached to the Mayor yet.

 

Yet.

 

It's only after placing your bed in the center of your claimed area (no need to be rolling off into a chasm in whatever currently passes for night thanks) that you realise the very _last_ thing you actually want to do is sleep.

 

“Welp,” you say, surveying your domain- your domain currently consisting of a very shitty bed, one grumpy troll, and one frighteningly enthusiastic troll- “I guess it's time to go exploring again.”

 

There is way more space on this meteor than twelve trolls could ever need. There is then, naturally, way more space than four trolls and two humans (and one exile) could ever, _ever_ need.

 

You keep telling yourself that as you and your trolls creep through Gamzee's blocks, another week later.

 

Part of the problem is no one's sleeping very much. Well, Rose and Kanaya might be, you guys still check in on them but now only after throwing things through the transportalizer first. There are things no man or troll was ever meant to see (or smell, although Terezi honestly doesn't seem bothered). The dreambubbles were cool at first but now they've gotten kind of creepy. If these trolls still had that sopor stuff you'd probably have tried it for the sake of a dreamless sleep, but well, if they still had sopor you wouldn't be on a hair-trigger for Karkat's murderclown moirail, so.

 

Okay, lies, the time you found John and proceeded to tease him about stealing his troll until Karkat smacked you so hard it actually woke you up was pretty entertaining.

 

But. Dreambubbles. Dead selves. There are a whole lot of dead yous and consequently you and Karkat both are pretty sleep deprived. Terezi doesn't mind the bubbles, but she does mind missing out on your explorations, so she's not sleeping a hell of a lot either. Problem is, it hasn't even been a month and Gamzee's blocks are the last left to explore.

 

Gamzee showed for the first couple of meals but he's been missing since. On one hand you'd really rather not encounter him, seeing as he looks at you like he's wondering how easy it'd be to make a mask from your face. On the other hand Karkat made it sound like he really needed to, you know, actually _interact_ with Gamzee sometimes in order to keep the murderous rages to a minimum and you know damn well Karkat's not going to go do this alone.

 

Also, it's been three weeks and you are insanely bored.

 

You're avoiding owning up to it but yeah, you're going to want to learn Alternian. For one thing it'll occupy some time, for another the books on the meteor represent _something to fucking do._ As it is you've been reduced to playing pretend with your trolls (you started out saying that as a joke and now you can't seem to stop) and you're pretty sure Terezi is plotting to drag you, Karkat, and possibly the Mayor into a drawn-out troll D and D campaign. Hopefully a less murderhappy one than you gather is normal for them. Frankly, right now you'd welcome it, if only because it'd mean you weren't ready to- throw yourselves sideways and crash into each other in a massive clusterfuck at the first faint _honk_.

 

“That was spectacularly moronic,” Karkat informs you from the bottom of the clusterfuck.

 

You were in the process of getting back up, but now you let yourself drop all your weight onto your elbow as you fall back into him. Terezi snickers, even though she's crushed as well.

 

Then she throws her arms around you both, rolling you over until you're pinned beneath her and still pinning Karkat, and her claws scratch down your back through your cape and wow hey no what is going _claws on throat yes okay proceed_.

 

From the bottom of the pile Karkat makes an extremely undignified noise. You bite his neck, because Terezi doesn't seem about to let him go and it's somehow less mortifying if he's an active participant rather than a creepy observer.

 

Biting causes Karkat to emit a strangled whine, which makes Terezi rattle-growl above you and scratch again, one hand scoring a thin line across your throat you're not entirely sure you're comfortable with and the other digging deeper into your side, and then she's craning her neck to get her face next to yours and when her horns smack into your forehead you realise she wants tongue action.

 

You're all at awkward angles, Karkat's the only one on his back and you're pressed up against him and the way Terezi has draped her whole weight over you means you're _staying_ pressed up against him, and every little twitch or shudder travels through all three of you.

 

Terezi has to crane her head at an insane angle. That doesn't deter her any.

 

You pry your mouth from Karkat's neck. He thumps his head into the ground with a wet groan that immediately catches your interest, but you don't have time to explore it because Terezi uses her horns to knock your glasses off your face.

 

“Hey! Terezi what the fuck-” You're planning to continue in this vein, but that's sort of difficult because hey tongue in your mouth.

 

Karkat squirms under you. Terezi's moved so one knee is firmly planted in the small of your back, the other hooked over your side so that her foot pins what would be Karkat's free leg, and yeah she's not letting either of the two of you up.

 

The first thing you do when she pulls back is slam your eyes shut, breathing hard, because as awesome as that was you want your fucking shades back.

 

“Okay, no, that's fucking bullshit, she finally got the fucking shades off and you don't get to keep hiding your goddamn eyes,” Karkat snarls. “What fuckery even is this, we're all up in each other's business and that ain't gonna fucking change for the next _three goddamn years_ , so unless you have freaky mutant eyes which would bring the number of mutant freaks on this rock up to _fucking half of us_ , get over it!” A second later, he's craning his neck so that _he_ can bite _you_. He doesn't go for your neck, he goes for your fucking nose, and the little fucker's teeth are sharp and you can't help it when you gasp and open your eyes instinctively.

 

And come on, okay so it's not like the trolls are even gonna _know_ your eyes are a weird color (no one has mentioned Rose's eyes since the game started, not even John or Jade, but at least purple doesn't get holy water thrown on you when you're like ten), but it's the principle of the thing, damn it.

 

Karkat lets go and lets his head thump against the floor with a groan. “Wow that is so many levels of not a goddamn surprise, why the fuck did I think they would be any color _but_ red, why would that even be a thing when Terezi is the one obsessed with you.”

 

“Less talking. More biting,” Terezi decides for all of you before biting _your_ neck.

 

“Okay there is only supposed to be _one_ vampire on this rock.”

 

“ _You_ started the fucking biting,” Karkat snaps, trying to squirm out from under the two of you again haha yeah right he's not going anywhere.

 

You're not actually sure where this is heading, and you don't get to find out, because that's when the second, far louder _HONK_ sounds and the three of you leap apart, roll to your feet and yank out your weapons before it's finished echoing off the walls.

 

By unspoken agreement you all abscond the fuck out of dark carnival territory.

 

You all end up back in your respiteblock (you're pretty sure you'll be talking mostly in troll terms by the time you actually meet up with John and Jade again, how sad is that) and it's also an unspoken agreement that you all end up piled on top of each other again (after you steal your shades the fuck back). You threw the troll equivalents of a TV and a DVD player in here a while ago and you all end up settling in to watch Troll Avengers for the fifth time.

 

“This is uncomfortable and I am uncomfortable,” you announce about twenty minutes in.

 

Karkat snorts. The movement digs his elbow into your gut. “Shut the fuck up Strider you're the bony one. You're a shitty pillow.”

 

“Come on, you guys don't even use pillows,” you complain.

 

“Well maybe we fucking would if we had any!”

 

Terezi interrupts the impending (stupid) argument to say, “Can we just watch all Black Widow's parts in a row again?”

 

“Yeah,” you both reply immediately.

 

Terezi's sharp knees are lodged uncomfortably in your side, Karkat's elbow is still impairing your breathing and his horns keep smacking into your chin when he tries to sit up and get a better look, and your left arm is asleep. The trolls can't be any more comfortable than you are.

 

(But nobody makes any move to leave).


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay this chapter was not supposed to happen hi meowrails you werent supposed to be here

Goddamn do you miss video games.

 

You'd think the whole 'that's what got us into this mess in the _first_ place' angle would sour that, but it doesn't, mainly because it would be something to _do_ that isn't just getting all up in each other's space all the time.

 

You're not even sure if you ever actually played them as much as you seem to remember doing. Sure there was Bro's Xbox and that shitty skateboarding game, and you definitely recall a whole hell of a lot of rounds of Mortal Kombat (and Bloody Roar but _no one needs to know that_ ) and the time Jade and John shanghaied you into a Starcraft marathon, but you are actually fairly certain you spent more time dicking around online or fucking with your turntables than actually playing games.

 

(Except Legend of Zelda but those are classics, okay, everyone needs to play those).

 

Yeah when you black out the map for a box of mixed chocolates Rose finally manage to alchemize and claim you're playing minesweeper she just about kills you and you have to go hide out in someone else's old respiteblock because Karkat's pretty pissed about it too (what the hell made you think sharing a room was a good idea, again? Oh right, they just sorta _did that_ ).

 

Terezi doesn't care, but she's also not going to help you hide from Karkat and Rose, because she's bored too and would probably help them because they sort of have a point. Hell, you don't even know where she is (she's probably with the Mayor building Can Town a law office).

 

(...Shit, you shouldn't have pissed them off, you had a skate park all planned out and Terezi's so going to take your space).

 

Oh fuck it might as well look around this area (again). You haven't been here in a while, partly because you get that Equius kinda creeped out even the other trolls but mostly because you don't want to explain why _you're_ cool with hanging out in the dude's old rooms.

 

(You are actually the opposite of cool with it).

 

(You are, however, apparently a masochist).

 

There are still robot parts and junk everywhere. You'd started putting a couple back together just because, but that led inevitably to thoughts of how Bro would have been able to get them working again and you just. You had to stop.

 

Also there was creepy horse porn in the robot pile and that just about triggered war flashbacks.

 

It's still where you go to get in some swordkind practice, because it's kind of hard to see robots and _not_ want to strife immediately. Even the scattered teacups don't help because they just make you think of Rose and the two of you have been trying to spar sometimes, but it really just isn't the same.

 

Except sparring with Rose actually sorta _did_ give you flashbacks (fuck, maybe you've all actually landed yourselves with PTSD, it's not like that'd be a stretch) and you ended up finding yet another secret room in here when you maybe sorta freaked out just a little bit and ended up dodge-rolling into a wall that turned out not to be solid. It's a shitty empty box of a secret room and Rose knows where it is too and honestly it's only a matter of time before the trolls find it because _what else is there to do_ , but for right now it makes a good place to hide out in.

 

You wrote on all of the walls in here, because fuck, you've been wanting to do that but it makes Karkat and Terezi both act kind of weird so you've been drawing instead. You still do that too, naturally, but there's something more calming about having the chance to scrawl _Here we go for the hundredth time_ on the wall behind a shitty crow.

 

Besides, Rose has no way of knowing where on the meteor you've chosen to hide out, there are secret rooms all over the damn place. You've literally tripped into them on the way to the bathroom. (You are secretly terrified the next one you fall into will harbor a crazed murderclown).

 

“Dave.”

 

Oh _fuck_ psychology.

 

“Dave, I know you're in there.”

 

“What Dave, there are no Daves here,” you call back, fervently wishing this room had the kind of door you could actually fucking block. Or close, hell, you'd settle for close. You'd settle for a _door,_ not this cleverly-hidden-crack-in-the-wall bullshit. Seriously, between that sort of thing and the whole sburb debacle you've already caught yourself testing for hidden rooms by hitting walls with your sword. (Which has been _working_ , because _fuck this place_ , but whatever, you're still done right now). “All Daves have left the building.”

 

“Dave....” Oh fuck she's coming into the room now, this is not how you planned this _at all._

 

(Like you planned this, at all).

 

Rose straightens up just inside the room and raises an eyebrow at the wall.

 

“Shut up, it doesn't mean anything.”

 

Rose raises her other eyebrow.

 

“It _doesn't,_ ” and wow okay that came out with something a little too close to genuine emotion for your comfort, where the fuck is your backspace button, ctrl z, you'll take any of these options before Rose replies thanks. 

 

Whatever Rose is about to say is cut off as the entire meteor shudders. That's... okay, that's a little unusual.

 

“What the hell?” you say, bracing yourself against the wall, accidentally smearing the word _hundredth_ into illegibility.

 

Rose's brows knit together. “I don't know, but I suggest we find our respective trolls and ask them if they have any idea.”

 

You're going to protest her phrasing, really you are, but that's when the room itself warps around you and resettles itself into a cave, writing on the walls turned to drawings and air gone weirdly heavy and still in a way that's far too familiar by now.

 

“Are we in a fucking dream bubble?” you ask, incredulously, when waiting in stunned silence for a few minutes does not in fact undo whatever the hell just happened. Because shit, you know you're all sorta sleep deprived and all, but falling asleep standin' around mid-conversation seems like it's maybe pushing it a bit.

 

Rose straightens and sways slightly, squinting as though it'll focus her Seer powers. Shit, maybe it will, you don't fucking know. Half the time you're not sure you understand your own damn powers, never mind everyone else's. “I.. Yes. Yes, I do believe we are. Strange. I'm positive we didn't just _both_ fall asleep. That would be a staggering coincidence.”

 

“Yeah.” You shove away and duck out the not-door into creepy puppetspace. Robotspace. Robots, right. No puppets here.

 

Also, no robots, because oh right your hideyhole just turned into a fucking cave and you are so not in Kansas anymore, you're in some uncharted fucking backwoods part of Oz that probably has the Emerald City's equivalent of banjo-playing hillbillies. 

 

It's Alternia, because of course it is, and you think distantly that it's kind of sad you're getting to be more familiar with various portions of Alternia than you ever were with Earth. The ratio of trolls to humans plus the fact that the four of you don't exactly present a decent cross-section of Earth means that isn't likely to change, either.

 

“It's a forest,” Rose notes unnecessarily, looking around with rapt interest. She's still taking to troll culture way faster than you, probably because she was pretty quick to get serious with Kanaya while your trolls are dicks and so are you and so you all spend more time harassing each other than actually advancing relationships.

 

Okay, that might also be partially because none of you seem quite sure what is even going on with your relationships, but still.

 

It's night, thankfully, because you haven't quite worked out where the line between trolls being sun-sensitive and Alternia's sun possibly being a flaming ball of death is and you're pretty sure you specifically being exposed to it would be bad no matter where that line is. Maybe it doesn't have any effect in dreambubbles, but you don't know and you're not racing to find out.  The multiple moons mean it's not too dark even with your shades on, though. 

 

“AC senses intruders in her territory!” an overly cheerful voice announces from right fucking behind you, shit.

 

You whirl around, sword out and ready, and... look around frantically until she speaks again.

 

“Oh, but her purrey is armed! That's good though, beclaws so is she!”

 

You look up. There's a catgirl (cattrol?) on top of the cave.

 

No.

 

Fuck no.

 

“We should introduce her to Jade,” your mouth says before your brain catches up.

 

Nepeta, because of course it's Nepeta, backflips down to you before Rose can respond. “Oooh, is Jade the one who went dog tier? I like her, we met up a while ago, we played catch!”

 

“Catch,” Rose repeats, blankly.

 

Nepeta giggles. “Yes! I ran and she tried to catch me!”

 

“Okay, you know what, I don't have time for this,” you say finally. “We're not asleep and I'm really pretty sure we're not dead, as much as that even means anymore, so what the hell is going on?”

 

“The dream bubbles exist in and beyond the Furthest Ring,” Rose says, slowly, piecing things together. “Where the meteor is. Where _we_ are.”

 

It takes you a second (and three milliseconds and) but then. “You mean, we are actually, physically in a fucking dream bubble.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Shit.”

 

Nepeta giggles again, then squeaks when another troll looms up behind her, and you get a sudden- actually, you know what, 'sinking sensation in your gut' doesn't really cover this. Your gut is an iceberg and the sinking sensation is the goddamn Titanic, because if you're at Nepeta's hive (yeah no okay this is a cave, there is no way this qualifies as a hive even by the _troll's_ standards) then you know who the other troll is likely to be.

 

Yeah. Yeah, that's definitely Equius, staring you down from behind broken shades (fucking _seriously_ why do the gods hate- oh, right, because they're Karkat and also Terezi and Kanaya and this goddamn douche himself and, fuck, you and Rose, of fucking course the gods hate you, this is more irony than even you signed on for).

 

“Nepeta, come away from there,” Equius says, and fuck, he's got the monotone voice deal going on right now, you're not feeling like dealing with this right now. Or ever, preferably.

 

“But I wanna knooow what they're doing!” Shit, she pronounces _know_ like a meow. 

 

You realise you actually kind of do want to see her interact with Jade. It seems like it'd be seriously entertaining, which is something you are sorely lacking.

 

“I guess this is better than being slowly bored to death,” you half-mutter to yourself, before looking to the two trolls. “Yo. I'm looking for TZ and Karkat, Rose is looking for Kanaya. Seen'em?”

 

“We have not,” Equius says shortly, but not before you see Rose's expression change suddenly and oh fuck you are fucked.

 

“I can help you look for Karkitty!” Nepeta pronounces, to your immense relief, and she's in the process of prancing (prowling?) over to you when Rose smoothly interrupts.

 

“No, I think it would be best if you accompanied me and Equius assisted Dave. I am sure he would worry less about you,” she adds, smug smirk growing as she glances at you, “And as we left Kanaya rather closer to us than we did the others, I would find it preferable as well.”

 

Nepeta pouts. She's really pouting. You have never actually seen anyone pout.

 

Well, maybe John. And he'll deny it was pouting until you all die (so probably not that long, honestly). But no one else.

 

“I'd prefurr to look for Karkitten,” she mutters, crouching a little and looking up at Rose from under her lashes before heaving a long-suffering sigh. “But if you'd feel better with the mighty huntress, then I'll go with you!”

 

“Excellent.” Rose's smile ticked upwards slightly. “I apologise, Equius, for taking Nepeta with me, but I really must whisker away now.”

 

Nepeta giggles.

 

And then she's gone, and Rose with her, and you didn't even actually see her leave and you and Equius are staring at each other from behind your shades.

 

Fffffuck no.

 

“You seem to already know who I am,” Equius says at last, “But I will introduce myself for politeness' sake anyway. I am Equius Zahhak. You are the human Dave?”

 

“Dave Strider, yes,” and it's actually pretty weird to introduce yourself by your full name again, it hasn't been necessary in... a really long time, shit. Everyone knows you already, everyone's known you for years, even the trolls. “So... any chance _you've_ got any idea where the fuck my trolls are?” Oh fuck you fucked up. Maybe he won't notice.

 

“Your trolls.”

 

You have no luck. “Running joke.”

 

He grunts and paces alongside you in silence for some time. Thank fuck he's not going to pursue that because you don't think 'it's ironic' is gonna fly with him and you really don't have a better explanation.

 

Alternia's forest at night is... actually very pretty. It's also pretty unnerving, because there are a lot of noises happening out of sight that are _not_ trolls. You know trolls, and you know loudmouth trolls and chatterbox trolls, and you are very certain those are not troll noises. But Equius seems unperturbed so like hell are _you_ gonna react to anything.

 

Okay, beyond keeping your (half) swordkind at the ready, but that's just common sense, really.

 

“Is there any chance they would be searching you out as well?” Equius says abruptly, making you miss your stride for just a second.

 

Then you think about what he just said. “Fuck, Karkat is, definitely.” Karkat has never stopped being super twitchy about knowing exactly where each of you is. At all times. In great detail.

 

Okay except Gamzee but the only reason _anyone_ wants to know where Gamzee is is so you can _avoid_ him, all right. Even if you're still pretty sure Karkat kind of shouldn't be. Fuck, _you're_ not making him go after the murderclown, _he'll want you to come with._ (Again).

 

(Okay you do kind of want to see where that first encounter was heading but fuck looking for Gamzee, Gamzee can stay lost).

 

At some point you both quit walking. Now you're both just standing there, and you force your back straighter, then feel awkward because why did you do that, and you and Equius are staring at each other now and fuck this is uncomfortable, why did you agree to this, oh right you didn't. Damn it, Rose.

 

“Do you have any idea how, or for that matter, if this correlates to where you are?”

 

“What?” you ask before you catch up all the way. “Oh, on the meteor. Uh. Maybe?” You frown and scratch the back of your head. “I mean, we were in your section, not Nepeta's, but.” You're pretty sure they both died in there. You'd concern yourself with that more if 'avoiding places people maybe died' didn't wipe out like half the meteor. Fuck that, you're bored enough with the entire place, chiseling it down would be terrible.

 

His brows furrow. “Why were you in my previous residence?”

 

“Robots,” you answer truthfully. “Remind me of home.”

 

His eyes glint at you from behind his shades for a second and wow that's not helping. “You are... interested in robots?”

 

“Nah, but my Bro was.” You shake your head and kick at a pile of leaves, raising an eyebrow when something that has way too many limbs and is an eye-searing shade of orange wriggles out of them and wanders off, shrieking in an absent-minded way.

 

Alternia is fucking weird.

 

It's honestly starting to grow on you.

 

Equius starts to lean against a tree, but it creaks alarmingly and he straightens again, very obviously doing his level best to pretend that didn't happen.

 

You know what, fuck it.

 

“Couldn't get any of them to work, though,” you say, carefully indifferent. “Like I said, that was Bro's thing. Turns out I'm shit at it.”

 

He hesitates, but only for a moment. “I could instruct you in how to restructure some of them.”

 

Terezi finds you before Karkat does, which is good, because she always has chalk. You did not know before that you could draw on trees with chalk. Mostly it hadn't occurred to you to try. Now you realise that for larger drawings it's impractical as hell and therefore you all need to do it as much as possible.

 

One diagram manages to span three whole trees.

 

Equius is a surprisingly good instructor, and after a few pointed comments when she first arrives Terezi licks you, frowns, and begins acting... not exactly friendly towards the other troll, but less hostile.

 

Karkat is not happy when he finds you, a good hour later, deep in an argument about potential fuel sources and surrounded by robot schematics painstakingly sketched in dirt.

 

“I have been looking for you imbecilic nookpanned fuckers for hours,” he snarls, kicking at a scrawl on the ground that started as you but ended up Terezi and resulted in a Trogdor robot. “Hours. Goddamn hours!”

 

Yeah, you're actually pretty chill right now, all this doodling and rambling about mechanics has got you oddly mellowed out, so he can rant all he likes. “Hey Karkat.”

 

“Fuck you,” Karkat snarls at a tree with a more detailed Trogbot.

 

You raise your eyebrows. “Wanna build a robot?”

**Author's Note:**

> that holy water thing happened to my little brother and it was hilarious, especially as the actual mutant in the family is me
> 
> this may be slightly AU as far as the meteor timeline but seeing as it's homestuck I didn't really sweat the timeline very much


End file.
